Random Comment Fics
by smthwallflower
Summary: A series of fills for prompts from comment-fic.. Includes the entire team, and a cameo from Sterling, and a cameo from the Avengers so far.
1. ParkerHardison - First Date

LJ User: poestheblackcat - Leverage, Parker/Hardison, For their first date, they stole a painting...and put it back. And then Parker texted Eliot to make them food because she was hungry.

**First Date - Parker/Hardison**

"... Parker, is this a date?"

"Yeah. Isn't it? I mean, the painting... it's our first date."

"... Alright girl, sure. But, since no one actually needs the painting, and you don't even like the painting... what about we put it back?"

"So, you don't like the painting either?"

"I like that you wanted to get it for me."

"But this was supposed to be our first date. Sophie said that that's what you do on first dates. You do something you know that the other person will like. Usually the girl. So I compromised."

Alec can't believe their having this discussion while the timer on the motion sensor clock is running down, and there's a maze of moving lasers between them. And that this is supposed to be their first date - he thought they'd already been dating for a while. But they weren't the most conventional couple, and if Parker wanted this to be a first date, by god, it would be a first date. "Hey, I'm loving this first date. I'm loving that we're on a date at all. It won't be any worse of a date if you leave the painting there though, I promise."

Parker reluctantly replaces the painting, giving it a forlorn look. "Sorry, I thought you were different."

"What was that?" Hardison asks from across the room, his heart rate jumping up because - did she just say what he thought she said? Because them words didn't usually bode well for guy-folk coming from the ladies.

"The painting." And she's coming back through the lasers, graceful and beautiful, her body moving this way and that to a song made up of bright beams of light particles - and she's fooling every single one of them. And talking, to boot. "I thought it would be different. But it's not."

She finishes her dance in his arms, and he leans forward to kiss her. "Maybe that's for the best. We gotta get going, and that thing would be hella awkward to get out of here."

"But you're supposed to have something to remember your first date by," she tells him, matter-of-factly, like she's the world's leading expert on first dates. "And now we haven't got anything." Her phone is out in her hand as she picks a lock with the other - it's a secured exit, and he barely has enough time to disarm the alarm before she pushes the door open.

"You don't always need something to remember your first date by." She gives him a look and he shrugs. "What? You don't. But, if you really want..." he looks around the roof as she starts setting up the rig for their (gulp) freefall down the building. Finally he finds what he's looking for. "Here," he tells her, offering her the item in one hand while his other takes the harness in her hand. "You can remember it by this."

The look she gives him is one part 'you're an idiot' and two parts 'but a kinda sweet idiot'. "It's a rock, Hardison," she tells him kindly, like he might not have noticed.

"Yeah, but it's something to remember this by."

Parker gives him a small smile, tucking it into her pocket. "Okay." He leans down and kisses her, just for a moment, because he loves that smile, and he loves everything about it. When he pulls away, she's texting one handed.

"Is that my phone?" he asks, patting down his pockets.

"I'm hungry," she says, like it's a valid response to his question.

He cranes his next to the side to see who she's sending it to - "Eliot? Really? You're asking Eliot to make food for our first-date dinner?" He's really getting used to this idea of a first date. And the implication that a second will follow.

Parker shrugs, grabbing his hand. The cell phone's disappeared and he has no doubt he'll find it in his pocket. "I'm hungry," she repeats, and then she's yanking him off the building and he's screaming, because he can't, for the life of him, remember when the hell she could've attached his harness to the line.


	2. Commitment - Eliot

LJ User: deanangst - Leverage, Eliot, it was shocking the day he realized that his commitment to the team had surpassed his commitment to the government.

**Commitment - Eliot **

_You took an oath. _

Once upon a time, the words would have jostled him into action. Had him jumping through the hoops in a second; filled him with a fiery passion to be that one thing no one else could stomach being. To do the job that no one else could, or wanted, do. It was something he'd been fiercely proud of at the time, his ability to look past the details and see the bigger picture. See that what he was doing, though morally wrong in itself, was for the betterment of the country. See the worth in an act most considered incomprehensible. It was necessary, and someone had to do it. Someone had to protect the people - not only from terrorists and tyrants, but from the knowledge of assassinations and torture too.

The government called and he'd come running; but after the fact, he'd be left all alone to justify his actions to himself. Eliot got really good at justifying his actions.

It was almost the same thing with a crew, except they didn't rely on his moral ambiguity to get a job done. They didn't send him into danger heedlessly. They didn't use him as a trained killer, pointing him in the right direction and letting him loose.

He'd taken an oath for his country, but that day, he realized he had another commitment. A commitment that ran deeper than any words or patriotism could.


	3. Eliot's 10 Shirts

LJ User: poestheblackcat - Leverage, Eliot, When Eliot finds a pair of jeans or a shirt that fits just right, he buys ten of them - he goes through them so damn quickly!

**Eliot's 10 Shirts**

1. The first shirt is usually always lost in a fight, either stained with the blood of some idiot who thought he could win, or torn here and there, from where things got rough.

2. It's up to Eliot to seduce the mark, and he knows he's succeeded when he feels her fingers scrapping against her chest, pulling the shirt up from his waist and, eventually, over his head. Sophie busts through the door the second it's shed, and he doesn't have time to retrieve it before she's shouting and cursing at him - apparently he's playing the cheating boyfriend this time, and no one would be able to tell it was a grift, the way he runs out of there.

3. Hardison never watches where he's going, and not only does the open bottle of Orange Soda end up splashed across the front of Eliot's brand new shirt ("Aw man, and that was the good stuff!"), the offensive excuse for a burrito Hardison had been holding splatters its sauce across the the thighs of his pants as it fall to the ground.

4. The scowl on his face when Nate tells him to dirty up is only partially because he's going to ruin yet another shirt - the other part comes from the fact that the soil on the ground isn't the proper consistency for the plants in the garden, and he really doesn't feel like sucking up to someone who treats a garden like this.

5. Eliot walks in on Parker attempting to cook in the kitchen. It doesn't end well for her, the food, the floor, Eliot, or his shirt.

6. It's another fight - but this time Nate has to cut through the cloth with a pair of safety shears, carefully so as to not irritate the slowly coagulating wound below. The rest of the shirt slides off easily enough, and Eliot almost wants to use it as a bandage so it doesn't go to waste - but Nate's already doing his thing, so he doesn't say anything.

7. It feels like Hardison manages to set racks of electronics on fire every five jobs - Eliot rips the shirt off, glad to be wearing a longer sleeve on under it, and bats down the smoke as Hardison shrieks, waving at it ineffectually with his hands and whining.

8. For all the clothing that Sophie possesses, he really expected more from her than the shrunken, colour stained, tattered remnants of the shirt he'd given her to clean for him.

9. The night before, Eliot had set his shirt on the dresser. He knew, because he remembered the dread when he realized he only had two left. But it's not there anymore, and he searches the house for the umpteenth time, wondering how in the hell Parker keeps managing to break in.

10. It's the last shirt. But the girl they're helping looks too much like a drowned rat at the moment. It's a little pathetic. So he gets her a towel, pulls off his shirt, and gives it to her, thinking it's a good thing he had one left.


	4. Eliot - Food Poisoning

LJ User: deanangast - Leverage, Eliot/team, Eliot gets a bad case of food poisoning while out of town on a case with the team.

**Eliot - Food Poisoning **

It was the middle of the job, and Eliot was throwing up. Violently. And while the second version of Plan M involved Eliot throwing up, they weren't quite that far down the list yet. And while Nate was sure that vomiting-Eliot could still do some quality ass-kicking, he really didn't need it proven.

"Parker, get him out of there. Hardison, fire alarms - but make sure we don't drag the police or fire department into it. Sophie, salvage whatever you can and we'll try again later."

-

"I'm fine." The growl was gone from Eliot's throat, suggesting that he was definitely not fine. Parker was sitting in the middle of the bed, off too the side with her knees pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on top of them. Nate and Sophie weren't there yet, working on stalling for the night. She poked Eliot in the stomach,

"Throwing up means your sick, not fine."

Hardison wandered into the room with a bucket under his arm and a glass of some kind of liquid that had a purple tint. "Babe, poking him isn't going to help."

The poking of his stomach stopped, and Eliot curled away from her shivering, trying to suppress a moan unsuccessfully. The revolt in his stomach was getting worse, the nausea creeping up slowly in the back of his throat. He'd probably have to use that bucket in a minute.

There was warmth against his back and he stiffened. "What're you doing?"

"You're cold."

"I'm not cold, Parker," Eliot muttered, annoyed, resisting the urge to curl up more tightly.

Parker's voice was right behind his ear. "You're shivering. That means you're cold."

"I wouldn't argue with her man, she gets stubborn."

"I'm fine," he insisted, even as the bile worked its way slowly up his throat. A blanket draped across him and when he tried to open his mouth to insist that he was fine, he ended up hanging off the edge of the bed, throwing up into the bucket.

Parker was still there when he leaned back. "We still like you when you're not fine," she told him seriously, voice muffled from behind his head. He groaned, keeping his mouth shut in case something other than words came out. This was going to be a nightmare, he decided, but he was kind of glad he was too preoccupied to fight off their care. It felt... almost nice. Until he had to throw up again.


	5. Kid-Parker and Team

LJ User: poestheblackcat - Leverage, wee!Parker and team, She's scared of the others, but never of Eliot. It could be because he never makes sudden movements or loud sounds around her, or perhaps because he bribes her with her favorite foods.

**Kid-Parker and Team**

The little blond girl is really just a skittish, nervous, eccentric, stick of a thing the first time the team met her. Nate had caught her picking his pocket in the busy streets of New York while he was out East for a job. He was halfway back to Boston when he realized she'd stowed-away in the back of his car without his knowing; he'd popped the trunk to see the locked suitcases of money lying open around her while she snuggled into a little custom-made nest of money, snoring away.

Sophie tried to talk him into handing her over to the police, to social workers, a foster family, anything - it was dangerous for a little kid to hang around. And while they were all criminals, it was kidnapping, she insisted, and that was just wrong. It was too dangerous. A child needed parents, she'd said. You can't just take a kid off the streets.

Parker had overheard them talking and promptly climbed up into the rafters of HQ, refusing to come down even after Nate promised her they wouldn't send her away. Sophie had a shoe thrown at her when it was her turn to try, and when Hardison tried she'd blown raspberries at him until he gave up.

Wide, suspicious eyes stared down at Eliot, who stared straight back up at Parker without blinking. Quite foolin' around, he'd said. He was the only one she thought could physically come get her, so she just wrapped her arms tighter around the wide beam, terrified they'd take her away. After a minute or two, he'd left with a sigh. It was an hour later when she was practising her balance on the narrower parts, that he came back.

There was a glass in his hand. It was one of those tall, graceful milkshake glasses, like she'd seen through the windows of fancy diners. The inside was layered white, brown and darker brown. It looked like it could be good, and she sat down on the support beam to look down at him. At some point in the evening, she'd gotten hungry.

Brownie Tiramisu, he'd told her, putting the cup on the top railing of the stairs, and then backing away to the first landing. It's yours, if you come down. He must have seen her suspicion, and her confusion. Chocolate, Parker. And whip cream. And brownies. You'll like it.

That got her halfway down, where she perched uncertainly on the picture railing, one hand against the vertical beam, balancing herself. I wouldn't go to all the effort if you weren't sticking around, he'd said, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. But I might just eat it myself if you don't hurry up. Cream's melting.

The next time Nate's wristwatch went missing, Eliot made a chocolate mousse loaf with a raspberry puree and the watch magically appeared on the table, right beside Parker's plate.


	6. LeverageAvengers - Sophie, Parker, Nat

LJ User: orlidepp - Avengers + Leverage, Natasha + Parker + Sophie, Nobody kicks butt like girls.

**50-word fill**

"We're done, what about you?"

"What do you mean, you're done? You're in already?!"

"Yeah, Hardison, that's why I said we were done. Why, aren't you?"

"Well, technically… but how…?"

"Natasha punched everyone Sophie would've grifted. Except for the dog – Sophie had to grift the dog. Can't punch a dog."

**Longer Fill **

It was like a wet dream coming true. Hardison watched the three girls on the monitors, Natasha and Parker making quick work out of a room filled with goons, Sophie making the governor sweat like he was being interrogated by a terrorist cell in the Middle East.

When a huge organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. approached you with the request to help them out, you couldn't really say no. Not when their arsenal of freaking _superheroes_ consisted of brilliant people like Bruce Banner (the _freaking_ HULK) and Tony Stark (Hardison had been trying to hack into JARVIS for _years_, it was kinda a thing). So they were doing a job for the organization that required a little more subtle than the said arsenal of superheroes were capable of.

Natasha was a pretty decent grifter, which was why she made the cut. But they'd been made, and now the team was fighting their way out. One with words, one with fists and crazy martial art skills, and the last with stealth and a well-placed taser.

Parker dropped from the ceiling, tasering a man that was at least three times her size. The man fell forward just as Natasha spun out of his trajectory, kicking out with her leg and catching another man in the face with her heel. Parker ducked under the extended leg as the attached boot connected with nose, to jab a third man with the taser, just as he raised the 2x4 at Natasha's head.

"So you see, you're not dealing with just any commoner," Sophie was announcing into his ear, her voice filled with bravo and confidence, channeling some BAMF-ing spirit. "I'm the woman behind the crown, the finger on the trigger. Do you really think you can stand a chance against me? You can't even fathom the enormity of how insignificant you are to me. So put the gun down, and maybe, just maybe, I won't press the speed dial on my phone that'll have you rotting in a prison for the rest of your life."

Parker was gone from the monitor, and Hardison scanned it one more time - Parker had a tendency to disappear from view and he tried not to be too quick to panic when it happened. When he finally managed to get a read on her, the floor was littered with a dozen bodies that had been standing a minute ago.

"How're they doing?" Eliot asked, his voice catching - he was short of breath. It must've been a longer-than-usual fight with his batch of goons.

Hardison grinned as Natasha caught the taser Parker passed her, pressed it into the man's chest and tossed it behind her without looking - Parker jumped off the pipe she'd been climbing, catching the small device as she dropped down onto the second-to-last guy's back, getting him right in the ribs. "Kicking some serious ass," Hardison whooped, feeling incredibly proud of their girls as Natasha took out the final dude with a move that he was pretty sure required some kind of flying power. "And doin' just fine."


	7. Parker - She used to be happiest alone

LJ User: laeria - Leverage, Parker, she used to be happiest when she was alone

**Parker**

They all got separate hotel rooms for this con - there was no reason for sharing, not when they wanted to remain anonymous. And they'd only been together as a team for a couple of months. It wasn't like they were friends or anything.

Well, okay, maybe they were friends. Sort of. But that didn't mean she wanted to sleep in the same room as any of them. No, she liked it better when she was alone. Being around people made things complicated and confusing, and they usually annoyed or bored her.

Except, if that was true, then why was she in the air vent, looking down through the grating at Nate? Nate, who, in a very Nate-like way, was pacing around his room with a drink in his hand? Nate, who was looking over at the door, because someone had knocked on it. Parker watched as he stepped out of view for a second, before coming back with a hand on his head.

"So, Nate, I was listening to the phone tap we've got, and it looks like Mrs. Money-Money really like her some soap operas. I was thinking -"

"Hardison, can't we do this... you know, tomorrow?"

"Nah man, cause look at this-"

There was another knock on the door and Hardison plopped himself on the couch right under her as Nate answered it. There was an pause after the door opened; Hardison looked up after a minute and waved someone in.

Eliot stepped into the frame made by the grating, glaring around the room. "I was just looking for some ice. My room doesn't have a bucket."

"There's some over there," Nate said, clearly still by the door. Eliot's eyes zeroed in on the bucket and he moved toward it, just as Parker heard Sophie's voice filtering in through the hallway,

"Oh, Nate - oh. Well then. Looks like the party got started without me." Sophie came swishing in - Sophie swished. Parker didn't get how she did it, but there was no other way to explain it, except for swishing. Hardison had turned on the television, and Eliot sat down beside him with a, "Whatcha watching?"

Sophie was getting a drink of water from the mini bar and Nate was staring at everyone just inside the frame, scowling. And Parker watched, captivated. There was a spot on the couch right between Hardison and Eliot - Sophie settled into the armchair, raising her water bottle at Nate. "Why don't you sit down Nate, we can watch a movie or something."

"Hey!" Hardison held up a hand, and Parker heard the door closing before Nate sat down on the edge of the bed, a whole bottle in his hand. "Guys, where's Parker?"

For a second Parker froze - did they know she was up here? She was only watching, she thought to herself defensively, there was nothing wrong with watching. It wasn't like she could possibly be annoying them.

Nate's head was in his hand again, but Eliot had stood up. "I'll go get her," he said, heading for the door and Parker couldn't help but grin. He hadn't been annoyed with her - he'd been looking for her. In a second the grating was removed and she'd dropped down into the middle spot she'd scoped out before.

"Jesus woman!" Hardison yelped, and Eliot turned around, looking... something. But there was a smile on his face, and she could help but grin at Nate who muttered,

"This is _my_ room."

Parker had the remote in her hand before Hardison even realized it was missing, and she flicked through the channels until she came to a horror movie. Sophie cringed and complained, Eliot sat back down, Nate had another drink and Hardison closed his laptop so he could stretch out.

Being around these people wasn't complicated or annoying, and most of the time it wasn't even boring. It was fun, and she wondered when she started enjoying the company of her team. There wasn't a single moment she could pinpoint, but as she whacked Eliot with a pillow at the same time the vampire appeared on the screen, she knew she liked it better with these guys than without them.


	8. Sick kid-Eliot and Sophie

LJ User: deanangst - Leverage, Wee!Eliot & Sophie, Eliot is sick and the only place he finds comfort is in Sophie's arms as she rocks him to sleep.

**Sick kid-Eliot and Sophie**

Eliot hadn't been feeling well all day – the child hadn't said anything, which surprised Sophie more than it ought to have. After all, he was resilient and strong, and still suffering from long-ago formed instincts; stubbornness was second nature to him – so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he neglected to say anything.

But she could see it in the way his face was blotched with red, the airiness in his speech, and the hitch in his breath. And it wasn't getting better. "Oh sweetie," she cooed, crouching down to his level as she brushed aside the bangs that stuck to his eyelashes. "You're not looking well at all."

He leaned into the hand she rested on his shoulder, but shook his head. "M'fine," he muttered through his bitten lip, looking down at the ground.

Sophie couldn't help but pull him in, holding him in a tight embrace. The stiffness in his body made her cringe, but after a few seconds she felt him relaxing, if not reciprocate. "Honey, it's alright if you're not feeling well." Christ – he was shivering. Without a second thought she held him tighter, shifted her arms slightly and stood; his arms automatically shot around her neck, his legs wrapping around her waist, latching onto her. As if she would ever let him fall.

"M'sorry," he muttered into her neck, his forehead impossibly hot against her cheek. Disappointment and guilt flushed through her as she climbed the stairs – it shouldn't have taken her so long to notice, to do something about it.

"No," she said, pushing through the door to his room and gently rubbing his back. "No need to be sorry, love. I'm the one who's sorry." He doesn't argue, but she knows that's only because he wouldn't, not because he believes it.

As she laid him on the bed, his fist clenched in her blouse, clutching onto it like it was his only lifeline. Sophie answered his unspoken demand by sitting on the bed, her heart aching for his misery. When he saw she wasn't going to leave him, he started squirming his way onto her lap, and she settled against the headboard. It didn't take long for him to get comfortable, and she held him in her arms, he muttered again, "M'sorry."

"Hush now," she told him, rocking him gently and he closed his eyes. "Nothing to be sorry for, alright?"

Eliot bit his lip and thought about it for a moment. "A'right, Mama," he finally whispered, and that time she believed him, even as the guilt grew.

The mark had called her his Mother and then left them… Sophie didn't know if she'd ever have the heart to tell him the truth.


	9. Sterling as a Father

LJ User: vanillafluffy - Leverage, Steerling, right bastard by day, loving father by night

**Sterling as a Father**

Daddy comes home at night, for a few hours, and she looks forward to it every time. By the time he comes by, she's already had her bath, gotten her toys back to their homes, and usually her hair's in a braid. It's the only time that Daddy really gets to see her, and she waits on the couch near the door. It's always three knocks, one-two-three, and then Mommy opens the door. Daddy scoops her up with a great big hug and she can't help but shriek in happiness, kicking her legs out as they lift up off the floor.

Then he carries her to her room, puts her to bed, tucks in the covers all around her so she's all nice and tight, and then sits down on the bed beside her, leaning up against the headboard so she can curl up next to him.

"Bedtime story!"

So he tells her a story, filled with good guys and bad guys, with amazing chases and lots of important things happening, and everyone gets a different voice, and it always revolves around her, the pretty clever princess. By the end of the story, if she hasn't dozed off yet, the pretty, clever princess wins.

When she gets older, she finds herself hoping that they weren't just stories - that one day, he's going to come and save her from the bad guy, and the pretty clever princess can just live with her Dad.


End file.
